Bateson Reading Group

We will be reading one of the 20th Century’s seminal works, the collection of essays by Gregory Bateson assembled in the book called Steps to an Ecology of Mind, and, as a counterpoint, essays and poems by his daughter Nora Bateson under the title Small Arcs of Larger Circles.

We will be reading one of the 20th Century’s seminal works, the collection of essays by Gregory Bateson assembled in the book called Steps to an Ecology of Mind, and, as a counterpoint, essays and poems by his daughter Nora Bateson under the title Small Arcs of Larger Circles.

The idea of an “Ecology of Mind” is as relevant and innovative today as when Gregory Bateson first proposed this—that mind and natural systems are intimately linked together and follow similar patterns. Some of the papers (the chapters are reproductions of earlier papers) in Steps to an Ecology of Mind include astonishingly original ideas that must be grappled with to fully understand, hence a group reading is a great way to work through this material. Nora Bateson’s book choreographs her father’s seminal ideas in a charming set of texts that deepens his thought in some areas and delights us in many others, providing a fresh perspective grounded in contemporary life.

Books We’re Reading

The idea of an “Ecology of Mind” is as relevant and innovative today as when Gregory Bateson first proposed this – that mind and natural systems are intimately linked together and follow similar patterns. Some of the papers (the chapters are reproducti …

Nora Bateson’s book choreographs her father’s seminal ideas in a charming set of texts that deepens his thought in some areas and delights us in many others, providing a fresh perspective grounded in contemporary life.

About the Authors

Gregory Bateson was a powerhouse of a thinker—he pioneered work in evolutionary biology, anthropology, cognitive psychology, cybernetics and information theory, ecology, theology and philosophy and his ideas had far reaching impact among many other thi …

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Unless otherwise noted, all rights are reserved by the individual authors. Other website content is licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)